Mobile check-in to hit airports

Use barcodes on your mobile phone to check-in for flights

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Checking-in for a flight online is now the norm for most travellers, but soon you could do so via your mobile phone instead.

A new global standard from airline industry trade association, IATA, will soon allow you to check in-for your flight using a bar code sent to you as an SMS text message. The bar code will act as your boarding pass, eliminating the need for a paper ticket or printed boarding card, the International Herald Tribune says.

Boarding pass by text message

When booking a flight, you would enter your mobile phone number to receive the text message containing your barcode/boarding pass. The barcode would then be readable directly from the phone's screen.

"This standard is an important step in getting rid of paper that bogs down processes and drives up costs," Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of IATA, said in a statement.